Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Nitra
Summary
Nitra (ˈɲitra; also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of about 78,353, it is the fifth largest city in Slovakia. Nitra is also one of the oldest cities in Slovakia; it was the political center of the Principality of Nitra. Today, it is a seat of a kraj (Nitra Region), and an okres (Nitra District).
The first mention of Nitra dates back to the 9th century. The name of the city is derived from the Nitra river. The name is Indo-European, but the question of its pre-Slavic or Slavic origin has not been satisfactorily answered. Nitra might be derived from the old Indo-European root neit-, nit- meaning "to cut" or "to burn" using a derivation element -r- (see also slash-and-burn agricultural technique). The same root is still present in the Slovak verb nietiť (to make a fire), but also in other Indo-European languages like Latin nitere (to burn) or in German schneiden (to cut). Another view to the origin of the name is related to the Latin Novi-iter or Neui-iter meaning "new territory behind the limes". The hypothetical Latin name could be adopted by the Quadi and later by the Slavs.
The first written records contain also suffix -ava (Nitrava). Particularly in older literature, the suffix is interpreted as deriving from the Proto-Germanic root *ahwa (water). However, the suffix -ava can be found also in numerous toponyms with a clearly Slavic origin and without any relationship to rivers. Although, the existence of hydronym Nitrava remains hypothetical and all versions with the suffix are related to a location, not a river. Thus, the form Nitrava can refer to a larger property or territory around the river Nitra. Both forms were probably used concurrently and were recorded already in the 9th century (Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum: "in loco vocata
Nitraua", but in 880 "ecclesie Nitrensis").
The name in different languages includes Nitria; Neutra (); Nyitra and Nyitria.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.